Gilded and Dead
by Paradigm of Writing
Summary: With only a knife and her brother by her side, Peach Jenison knows that only with perseverance could she defeat the overwhelming tide of death coming for her throat. (Placed 3rd Overall For Mikaela's The World Has Died, Hasn't It contest)


**Hey everyone, Paradigm of Writing here with a new one-shot called Gilded and Dead. This is for Mikaela Vermillion Hyakuya's The World Has Died, Hasn't It contest, and here, my one-shot shall be my entry. This'll probably be a difficult thing for me to create as the rules are a little iffy for me, but because I shall never back down from a challenge since the Western contest that I dropped out of... I am going to make sure I complete this. If I don't win, oh well! :) I have a little part of me that wanted to make this Rated M, but I settled for a T rating- it'll let me have a lot more to offer without feeling overdone. Definite OOC on Peach's part in this story, and Snake will be Snake lol. Enjoy!**

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Elongated shadows race across the tile floor, matched with the foul stench of decaying flesh and the copper stink of dripping blood. The dim light halls of the Thatcher mansion on the hall light up briefly with the echoing power of a gunshot, sulfur and fire warped bullets burying themselves into hidden enemies from the walls drenched in crimson. Inside Thatcher manor, elegant and pristine Peach Jenison sent another shotgun shell into another disfigured member of their home staff.

A low screech came from the maid that had just been shot, silver blood exploding from her brain as her head was splintered in half. Peach shrieked as the glowing liquid landed on her dress, already torn and tattered from the night at hand. Acidic fumes dared to invade her nostrils and succumb her to the disease that had crippled everyone else in her life, save for her brother behind a crate of boxes filled to the brim with water. Snake Thatcher chucked two knives into the throat of a deceased butler, slamming the diseased individual to the ground.

"Shit!" Peach hissed. "I'm all out of shells!"

Snake looked at his sister in worry, as another dismembered staff lunged for her. In lightning reflexes, Peach slammed the shotgun into the attacker's chest, bashing the weapon on the flailing creature's head till more silver blood cascaded the walls in a nickel coat of gross remains. Snake eyed a little boy, no older than seven running at the duo, violet stained fangs outstretched to dig into someone's neck. He didn't bat an eye, the owner of the manor gladly stabbed the boy in the gut.

"We need to move!" Snake howled, choking another damned soul to the ground.

"But to where will we run? The mansion is overrun and soon we'll be screwed regardless of where we go!" Peach impatiently huffed. Winding up like a pitcher, she sent a Molotov cocktail down the carpeted alley and grinned to herself as ferocious scarlet flames eroded the skin of eight new attackers.

The brother and sister lost track of how many they had killed since they arrived at the mansion. It felt like a week since the global market along with a majority of its countries fell to the crippling sickness only known as the word Lescoth, an illness that took over the nervous system first before making the host lose their fingers, before sprouting five inch fangs that thirsted for blood almost like vampires. It started in Morocco, meaning Africa fell first, and rather quickly. Egypt told tales of armies filled with black, howls that made wolf packs seem like Mother Teresa. The ancient country of old age fell in only a matter of three days, the numbers that Lescoth had taken was too great. Europe came under a shadow that started in Spain and spread eastward, destroying France and the U.K on the same day as Spain lost all hope. Italy held back for longer than anyone had ever expected- taking nearly three weeks for all of it's citizens to be turned into mindless zombie/vampire hybrids. The United States soon became under fire, when one person infected with the zombified virus took a boat into New York City. Chaos erupted in the metropolis only a day after the unfortunate soul fell. Chicago, Boston, Austin, Los Angeles... boom these cities went down.

In a rural part of Arkansas, Peach had learned of the imminent threat when it started in Africa. Fleeing to her brother's fortified home in Little Rock, the duo kept a strong foothold in Snake's house for what seemed to be a month. Every night was the same, legions upon legions of people running to attack- as a special characteristic of the Lescoth disease was the deceased hosts could sense which people in the world hadn't been afflicted with it yet, and somehow, someway they'd get their prey. It seemed to the world left standing that they were going to die regardless. Peach and Snake did not wish to be those people who gave up, not by a long shot.

For days and days all they saw was blood, dead bodies, and more blood... little otherwise. Storms were a welcoming sight, as the disease hated water and rain for a peculiar reason that no one understood. A lone survivor of a nearby town had managed to make it to the mansion, unscathed and unaffected by the killing sickness. There was news that Fort Knox in Kentucky had actually been turned into something useful once all the gold was left, that it was the last fort in the country to still be sick free and steadily alive. No later than two hours after the news was given, did Snake have to kill their visitor because he tried murdering Peach in her sleep. The duo only had one hope. Get to Fort Knox.

"We make for the back hills of the house, and then from there take the train line. Hidden by the trees, we'd go unspotted!" Snake yelled over the din of the strong wind that began blowing throughout the hall.

Peach resorted to a makeshift bow, shooting shards of glass from a rubber band that was nearly three feet in length. Splatters of iron and scarlet lines decorated the glass for a rather grotesque stained glass window. She decided to call the art Carmine, only because she could. "You do know we cannot stay here, right?"

Snake opened his mouth to reply when the floor above them began to shake. He looked up slowly, when the roof caved in. Peach screamed, twirling away while clutching one knife in her hand. Bodies, all Snake could see was bodies as zombies and vampire hybrids alike came tumbling in. The brother and sister duo locked eyes. They weren't going to survive this one.

Releasing a battle cry, the female sibling jumped into the fray, slashing and hacking away at whatever she could see. Suddenly, she heard a loud gasp. Peach stopped her frenzy and stared horrified at her brother. Snake could only stare at the gash in his chest, crimson leaflets dripping down his shirt. "Good cut..." he croaked, before collapsing.

Peach didn't have time to react, as an unwarranted visitor, a zombie which had fallen from the room, jumped on her. Being blinded by mahogany stained flesh, and ragged clothing, the zombie tore into her neck. She screamed, screamed for someone to help her. Oh, goodness she screamed. And no one came. Snake bled out on the carpet.

The siblings were dead.

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 **There we are you guys! I hope you all enjoyed this brief and small idea- although I know it isn't the greatest. And to Miss Mikaela, thank you for hosting this contest! I hope my entry does enough to provide a great fight, although I'm not so sure now, lol. I am so glad to have you be a friend of mine, I love you more than words can say.**

 **~ Paradigm**


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